Fresh flowers smell wonderful and are very special to the person who receives them as a gift. Combining accessories such as candies, a ring or any other type of jewelry, a stuffed animal, a vase, plant food or any other desired items, with the fresh flowers often emphasizes the emotion conveyed to the person receiving them. Consequently, many people want to include accessories with the flowers they send to a loved one.
To satisfy this desire, florists place a box containing the accessories into the box containing flowers. Because fresh flowers are typically fragile and would break or bruise after contact with the accessories box, many florists divide the interior of the flower box into compartments with a divider. One compartment contains the fragile flower portions of the flowers, while the other compartment contains the stem portions of the flowers and accessories box. Thus, the flower portions of the flowers are protected during shipment of the flowers and accessories.
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate a conventional flower box 20 used to ship flowers to consumers. FIGS. 1 and 2 also illustrate a conventional insert 22 that includes a divider 24. To package flowers and accessories for shipment to a consumer, the florist typically does the following. First, the florist generates the box 20 from a blank by folding the various panels 21 and then gluing some of the panels together. This typically involves folding each panel individually and applying an adhesive or inserting a flap. Then, the florist generates the insert 22 from a blank by folding the divider 24 away from the stem section 26 and then folding the flower section 28 parallel or substantially parallel to the stem section 26. Next, he/she folds the sides 30 of the insert 22 to a position shown in FIG. 2 so that the insert 22 can be inserted into the box 20. After inserting the insert 22 into the box 20, he/she inserts the flowers into the box 20 by threading them through the divider so that the flower portions of the flowers are under the flower section 28 and the stems of the flowers are above the stem section 26. Then, he/she places the accessories box (not shown) above the stems.
Unfortunately, this packaging process has three problems. First the process is time consuming and can easily damage the flowers. Because each panel is typically folded individually, the process of generating the box 20 and insert 22, and inserting the insert 22 into the box 20 can be time consuming. The flowers can be easily damaged when the florist threads the flowers through the divider because the stem portions and flowers portions can easily bruise when contacting the divider 24 or the panels 21 of the box 20. Consequently, a florist usually bends the stem portion of the flowers to avoid bruising the stem and flower portions. But bending the stem portions can also damage the flowers. And once damaged, the flowers are typically replaced and thrown away. Second, a florist must keep track of two inventories—the blanks for the inserts 22 and the blanks for the boxes 20, which requires additional work. And third, the blanks for the box 20 or insert 22 could be misplaced or used up before the blanks of the other component are used up, leaving the blanks of the other component temporarily unusable.
Thus there is a need for a box or container that can be quickly and easily generated from a blank that includes an insert with a divider to divide the interior of the box into two or more compartments and protect one or more flowers contained in the box during transportation. Furthermore, there is a need for an insert with a divider that allows one to place the one or more flowers in the box without bending, bruising or damaging them.